Privacy, Affiliate Links, Cookies: This site uses cookies, including to identify the country you are visiting from and to measure traffic to third-party sites.

I invest a lot of time and money into running this site, and I use affiliate links to help get a little of this money back. If you click on an affiliate link and purchase anything, I will receive a small commission. These affiliate providers use cookies to understand the referrals I've made and whether an ad was shown. These cookies do not reveal your identity, web use, or other behaviour.

By continuing to use this site, you agree to the use of cookies. To learn more about what cookies are stored and how they're used, you can find my Privacy Policy here:
Privacy Policy

About Of Breakable Things (#1)

A captivating debut about the fragility of life, love, and perspective.

When Chase dies tragically, Alex embraces her own mortality. What she didn’t expect was that she’d have to make a choice: forget the years of pain and suffering once and for all, or linger as a spirit and get another chance at life and love.

Alex doesn’t hesitate to choose; she’d follow Chase anywhere. But the spirit world is nothing like she expected, and Alex finds she’s forced to fight for her life once more. For even in a world where secrets are buried much deeper than six feet under, a legacy can continue to haunt you—and in a place this dangerous, no one is resting in peace.

About Of Delicate Pieces (#2)

Settling into her second year of death, Alex is ready to explore her limitless mind in an afterworld that changes each day, but she still isn’t resting in peace.

The ‘gifted’ are humans who see spirits and have the same extraordinary mental powers, though they aren’t considered equals. Centuries ago, Alex’s family led the movement to keep the living and dead separated, but the gifted believe Alex is a reincarnation of their slain civil leader. When they begin to break down the barriers that protect the city, the afterworld becomes dangerous and vulnerable to exposure. The living and dead both want to use Alex for their own gain, but what they don’t realize is that neither side will want her when they find out who she really is.

What would you do if you were a ghost for a week?

That is what I asked Rolland, and here’s what she said…

If I could be a ghost for a week, I’d hope to have an accelerated mind like the characters in Of Delicate Pieces! In the first book, Alex dies and her mind becomes free. Without the barriers of their bodies, the dead can stretch the boundaries of possibility. Spirits can remember everything they’ve ever seen, heard, learned. They can move objects telekinetically. They can ‘project’ themselves, moving the images of their former bodies as far as they can see. They can travel through frequency waves. They can meditate into other parts of the world for seconds at a time- just by thinking about it.

If I could take advantage of limitless brain power, there are so many things I’d want to do! On day one, I’d use a brilliant mind to get some work done- that way I don’t beat myself up because I didn’t use a proper brain when I had one! So, I’d write as many books as I could in one day.

Now, let’s have some fun. I’d start traveling. I’d use the frequency waves my characters use to travel to a few cities I have on my bucket list: Paris, Barcelona, Florence, and maybe I’d hop into a few waves and see where the energy takes me! Be spontaneous while I can!

After sightseeing, I’d try to be useful to mankind. In Of Breakable Things, Alex learns that spirits have advanced technology and research. I’d sneak into one of the facilities in Eidolon (spirit town), and I’d steal cures for things like oh, I don’t know, cancer, Alzheimer’s, ALS, and whatever else I can get my hands (mind) on. Maybe EDS and other tissue disorders since that was Alex’s illness when she was alive.

These probably aren’t conventional answers! I think most people would love to be a fly on the wall somewhere, but I don’t want to know what people say about me when I’m not around! And yes, it would be cool to use my lack of a body to break into a bank and steal some dough, but I’d be paranoid that someone would track the bills, and I’d get busted! I’m a worrier. So really, working, traveling, and sharing some lifesaving medical advancements would work for me!

On a side note: I do believe in ghosts. I doubt they exist in the sort of afterworld I cooked up in my brain for Alex Ash and her friends, but I can’t imagine that when we die all the knowledge and emotions in our heads just disappear. Think of our intelligence. And how much love things. How much we hate things. How much we feel. That energy has to go somewhere, and maybe it becomes a projection like a spirit, but I have a theory for what happens when the person ‘moves on’ without becoming a spirit, too. And that theory is part of the fun in Of Delicate Pieces!

Thank you so much for hosting me and my crazy mind! Happy haunting!!

About A. Lynden Rolland

A. Lynden Rolland was born and raised in a picturesque town obsessed with boats and blue crabs. She has always been intrigued by the dramatic and the broken, compiling her eccentric tales of tragic characters in a weathered notebook she began to carry in grade school. She is a sports fanatic, a coffee addict, and a lover of Sauvignon Blanc and thunderstorms. When she isn’t hunched behind a laptop at her local bookstore, she can be found chasing her two vivacious children. She resides in Maryland with her husband and young sons.

Follow me

Ways to subscribe

Like what you see?

Star ratings

0: Couldn't finish1: Want my precious reading hours back2: Could have done without it3: It was good, but it's not an essential read4: Really liked it and glad I picked it up5: Absolutely loved it and would read again

Things I’ve said

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise stated, I do not claim ownership of any images or other media.

Dani Reviews Things is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Dani Reviews Things is also part of The Book Depository's affiliate program.